I started a journey building my first cryptocurrency mining rig. What a trip! In my previous blog, I outlined what was ahead. https://steemit.com/crytpocurrency/@mrosenquist/time-for-a-cryptocurrency-miner-build
Now, the job is done!
I like to think of myself as somewhat technical, when it comes to computers. The first PC I ever built was well over 20 years ago. But truth be known, I have not been very active building systems lately. Mostly, over the past 2 decades, I have been lazy and just buying PC’s from major retailers that had the specs and components I wanted. But my desire to have a mining rig, to play around with blockchain, cryptocoins, and even Artificial Intelligence algorithms, pushed me to build a custom system.
Frame
Don’t laugh. A 10 GPU (video cards) system does not fit in a regular PC case. In fact, a case is not desirable for mining rigs as it keeps in too much heat. Those video cards produce a tremendous amount of therms which can damage the components and even cause a fire. So, it is crucial to dissipate heat as fast as possible. Most mining rigs are open, to allow maximum airflow.
The frames I saw for sale online mostly only supported space for 6 GPU’s. I am starting with 10 and plan to expand to 18 eventually. A few larger frames were available but priced at over $600. Absurd! So instead, I improvised. $20 worth of wood, screws and a little reliving woodworking class…and viola! An ugly, but functional and adaptable solution.
So don’t laugh! It works really well and is forgiving when I make mistakes. I am looking into someone local to eventually forge a metal case to my final specs.
The Mother (board)
The motherboard is the centerpiece for this rig. It is the ASUS B250 Mining Expert motherboard and can support three independent power supplies and an insane 19 separate graphic cards. It is a design of genius, with the unique needs of miners specifically in mind.
The Build
The parts were all acquired via Amazon. Of note are the 10 XFS Radeon RX 580 (4GB) video cards, two power supplies (1300w and 850w), and of course the awesome motherboard. Everything else are just basic components.
Step 1: Install the CPU and fan, as well as the memory
Step 2: Install both power supplies
Step 3: Video Cards and risers
Step 4: Fans and cable management
Step 5: OS and Software
Step 6: Mining Test and Tuning
Problems
I would love to report everything went off as planned without any problems. But I can’t. This build took almost 3 days, when it should have only taken 1.
There were problems with the memory seating properly (probably my mistake), the motherboard not recognizing bootable USB drives (except for Win10, which I had to use), and various mining software not seeing all the video cards or having OpenCL issues. Overclocking and under-volting, to improve performance with less overall electricity, was a challenge.
In the end, I solved all those issues. The components all proved to work as advertised and nothing had to be shipped back. The OS is stable and I am able to run several different mining engines that cover a wide swath of cryptocurrency algorithms.
“Rig1”, as it has been christened, is up and running. I have been throwing it at a number of different cryptocurrencies over the past week. It is fun to hear the fans spin up and feel the oven-like heat emerge as the video cards crunch numbers in massively parallel ways.
Eventually I may expand the system with more GPU’s, but for now, this is a great tool that will meet my cybersecurity, crypto, and AI research needs.
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